Elvis Costello – “The New York Times – Another Spin of the Musical Wheel”

Posted on
May 25, 2011

“If I can’t cheat, who can?” he teased.

But the real and gratifying cheat was that there is, in the end, no way to keep Mr. Costello’s songs in any shallow entertainment mode. His torrents of words hold desire, rage, wounds and revenge, from the scathing personal scale of “Alison” to the historical sweep of “Oliver’s Army.” The music converges from all over — punk, soul, British Invasion, Tex-Mex, tango, country — to carry those words and sort out their emotions. More…